The Circle Undone Blind Run #3: The Secret Name

The Secret Name

This expansion gave us access to one of the best Rogue cards in awhile. Jenny takes Intel Report with no hesitation. She even has an excellent in-game reason to do so as Intel Report can represent her newly established connection with the Lodge. Although, why Intel Report instead of Intelligence Report? Was that contraction common in the 20s? I'm not so sure.

Jenny decides to tell the Lodge about the coven and begins with extra in the chaos bag.

Pre-Mulligan Hand: "I'm outta here!", Physical Training, Lockpicks, Cat Burglar, Cat Burglar

Opening Hand: Physical Training, Lockpicks, Physical Training, Elusive, Jenny's Twin .45s

#1

• PLAY Physical Training
• PLAY Lockpicks
  • We need four clues to advance the first Alone, so Lockpicks are going to be very convenient.
• INVESTIGATE with Lockpicks (, 2 supplies left, × Moldy Halls)
  • Turns out yesterday's round against the punching bag left Jenny's hands rougher and less sensitive. She flexes her fingers and steadies her breath.
• Upkeep: draw Emergency Cache, 2 resources total.

#2

• Mythos: 1/4 doom, Terror in the Night (0, agenda)
• MOVE to Decrepit Door (Frank Eldwood's Room)
• INVESTIGATE with Lockpicks (0, 1 clue from Frank Eldwood's Room)
  • Better.
• MOVE to Moldy Halls
• Upkeep: draw Leo De Luca, 4 resources total.

#3

• Mythos: 2/4 doom, Disquieting Dreams (, threat)
  • I've wanted to save up the resources for Leo, so I didn't boost the test. I figure that the encounter deck is full of cards and Jenny's weaknesses aren't immediately lethal, so Disquieting Dreams might be harmless in the end.
• PLAY Emergency Cache
• PLAY Leo De Luca
• MOVE to Decrepit Door (Joe Mazurewicz's Door)
  • Shout out to Father Mateo!
• INVESTIGATE with Lockpicks (, 1 clue from Joe Mazurewicz's Door)
• × Disquieting Dreams
• Upkeep: draw "I'm outta here!", 3 resources total.

#4

• Mythos: 3/4 doom, Centuries of Secrets (+1 , commit Physical Training, , discard 5 encounter cards, 1 damage to Leo De Luca, 1 damage)
• MOVE to Moldy Halls
• INVESTIGATE with Lockpicks (+3 , , -2, 1 clue from Moldy Halls)
  • I expect Walter's Room to have at least one clue, so I'll have Jenny enter without checking the last Decrepit Door first. Come to think of it, why would Jenny need to bother with finding a key to Walter's Room if she has Lockpicks?
• MOVE to Walter Gilman’s Room
  • Tempting.
• Walter Gilman’s Room (1 horror to Leo De Luca, draw Switchblade, Machete & Overpower)
• × Disquieting Dreams
  • Brown Jenkin just went to the discard pile. Is that good or bad, I wonder?
• Upkeep: draw Lone Wolf, 2 resources total.

#5

• Mythos: 4/4 doom, advance THE HERMIT • IX to The Familiar (Brown Jenkin at Walter Gilman’s Room), Pulled by the Stars
  • OK, the familiar is onto me regardless. My first thought is to engage and fight, but with Pulled by the Stars I'm not so sure. Fighting will might leave with no actions to move. On the other hand ignoring Jenkin risks drawing Searching for Izzie. Hmmm...
  • EDIT: At this moment I've made a serious misplay. I haven't cleaned up earlier locations and because of that I hadn't realized that Searching for Izzie would spawn at Keziah's, meaning a location that would be both nearby and not too high-shroud. Alas, by the time I've spotted the mistake Jenny was already at knife-leght with the familiar.
• PLAY Switchblade
• ENGAGE Brown Jenkin
• FIGHT with Switchblade (commit Overpower. , , -4, draw Cat Burglar, 1 damage to Brown Jenkin)
  • Barely.
• FIGHT with Switchblade (+1 , commit Machete, )
  • Squirmy bastard!
• FIGHT with Switchblade (commit Jenny's Twin .45s, +1, defeat Brown Jenkin, The Familiar, 1 clue)
• advance Investigating the Witch House to Beyond the Witch House (get Black Book, discard Lockpicks)
  • Not exactly as planned, but at least Brown Jenkin is out for the moment. I reluctantly have The Black Book displace Lockpicks. Lockpicks are tremendously useful, but they can be substituted with Streetwise. Switchblade can't. Especially since I've just wasted most of my other weapon cards.
• × Disquieting Dreams, × Pulled by the Stars
• Upkeep: draw Overpower, 2 resources total.

Jenny’s Board State: 7 health, 5 sanity, 2 resources, 0 clues

In Play: Leo De Luca (1 damage & 1 horror), Switchblade, Black Book, Physical Training

In Hand: Elusive, "I'm outta here!", Lone Wolf, Cat Burglar, Overpower

Threat: Disquieting Dreams, Pulled by the Stars

#6

• Mythos: 1/6 doom, Diabolic Voices (-2, discard "I'm outta here!")
• INVESTIGATE (+3 , , +1, Keziah's Room, move to Unknown Places, Salem Goal, 1692)
• RESOURCE
• PLAY Lone Wolf
• INVESTIGATE (, , , discard 6 encounter cards, × Salem Goal, 1692, move to Keziah's Room)
  • No problem, I've got seven more Unknown Places to scout so there should be five more clues around. That being said, the sheer number of actions required is insane and it's not even the last Act. I'm really glad Leo has Jenny's back on this one.
• × Disquieting Dreams
• Upkeep: draw Cat Burglar, 2 resources total.

#7

• Mythos: 2/6 doom, Fate of All Fools
• Lone Wolf
• INVESTIGATE (+3 , , Keziah's Room, move to Unknown Places, Twilight Abyss, commit Overpower, -3, 1 damage)
• INVESTIGATE (0, 1 clue from Twilight Abyss)
• INVESTIGATE (-2, 1 clue from Twilight Abyss)
  • The Black Book made the difference. It has a printed cost, so I’m pretty sure there’ll be an option to keep it after the scenario ends.
• MOVE to Keziah's Room
• × Disquieting Dreams
• Upkeep: draw Lockpicks, 3 resources total.

#8

• Mythos: 3/6 doom, Fate of All Fools (1 doom)
  • There are four Agenda cards, so one more doom shouldn’t make that much of a difference.
• Lone Wolf
• INVESTIGATE (+3 , +1, Keziah's Room, move to Unknown Places, City of Elder Things)
  • Hmmm… No. Too risky. Perhaps if I’ve played Cat Burglar beforehand. I need to keep in mind that The Black Book offers discounts.
• INVESTIGATE (commit Lockpicks, -4)
• INVESTIGATE (, , 1 clue from City of Elder Things)
• INVESTIGATE (-1, 1 clue from City of Elder Things)
• × Disquieting Dreams
• Upkeep: draw Intel Report, 4 resources total.

#9

• Mythos: 5/6 doom, Evil Past
  • Note the interaction with Disquieting Dreams.
• Lone Wolf
• MOVE to Keziah's Room
• INVESTIGATE (+3 , -3, Keziah's Room, move to Unknown Places, Witch House Ruins)
  • At the earliest opportunity! Jenny gapes at the ruins. She misses one clue to advance the Act, but there are none to be found at this location. I’ll have her stay put, as it’s likely the next Agenda flip will spawn an enemy that can be turned into a clue.
• Pulled by the Stars ()
• Pulled by the Stars ()
• × Disquieting Dreams
• Upkeep: draw Unexpected Courage, 5 resources total.

#10

• Mythos: 6/6 doom, advance The Familiar to The Witch Light (Nahab & Brown Jenkin at Keziah's Room), Pulled by the Stars
  • OK, there’re two of them. Change of plans. I need to check whether I can finish this scenario in one go or not.
• Lone Wolf
  • Because we’re clearly dealing with time travel and we’ve got access to the same house in the future then after the whole situation is over Jenny will arrange for the Lodge to write out an important hint on a piece of paper and hide it in a bottle buried near the porch.
• PLAY Intel Report (1 clue from Salem Goal, 1692)
• advance Beyond the Witch House to Stopping the Ritual (2 doom and move Nahab to Site of the Sacrifice)
  • I don't really understand what needs to be done. Let's scout.
• MOVE to Site of the Sacrifice
• EVADE (commit both Cat Burglars & Elusive, )
• EVADE (commit Unexpected Courage, -2, exhaust Nahab)
  • It turned out fine, but that last test should’ve been boosted with Streetwise. I focused too much on emptying my hand to avoid Brown Jenkin digging for the weaknesses.
• × Disquieting Dreams
• Enemy: Nahab readies (2 doom total)
• Upkeep: draw Searching for Izzie (at City of Elder Things), 4 resources total.
  • Eye-roll.

Jenny’s Board State: 6 health, 5 sanity, 4 resources, 0 clues

In Play: Leo De Luca (1 damage & 1 horror), Switchblade, Black Book, Physical Training, Lone Wolf

In Hand: -

Threat: Disquieting Dreams, Fate of All Fools, 2x Pulled by the Stars, Evil Past

#11

• Mythos: 3/8 doom, Diabolic Voices (-4, 3 damage & 2 horror)
  • Jenny's ears are bleeding! She's in no condition to go after Searching for Izzie. It's three locations away and if she left Nahab would accrue doom. Goddamit, that Elusive I commited last turn would've been perfect.
• Lone Wolf
• EVADE (+3 , -3, exhaust Nahab)
  • On second thought, I could reduce Nahab's doom to one, get more clues in advance, confirm that Izzie is not in the City of Elder Things and then go back and win scenario. We'll see whether the encounter lets me do that.
• Pulled by the Stars (discard)
• Pulled by the Stars (discard)
• INVESTIGATE (+3 , , 1 clue from Site of the Sacrifice)
• × Disquieting Dreams
• Enemy: Nahab readies (2 doom total)
• Upkeep: draw Emergency Cache, 3 resources total.

#12

• Mythos: 4/8 doom, Meddlesome Familiar (1 damage, Swarm of Rats)
  • 4-health rats! Let's consider... No. Those rats are in effect an additional evade action I can't afford to reliably boost. I'm finishing the scenario.
• Lone Wolf
• EVADE (+3 , 0, exhaust Swarm of Rats))
• INVESTIGATE (+3 , Nahab attacks, 1 damage & 2 horror, -2, 1 clue from Site of the Sacrifice)
• Site of the Sacrifice
• Site of the Sacrifice
• R2
  • Alas! Mental Trauma. Jenny realized that there was nothing regarding her sister in the buried bottle. She wasted an irreplaceable opportunity!

The difficulty is ramping up. The Secret Name was more demanding than the previous scenarios, especially in terms of investigation actions required. I like how this campaign provides slightly different challenges for solo investigators and teams. I also appreciate that with The Secret Name the story is becoming more coherent. We keep accumulating trinkets, but we don’t know their function yet. I wonder if there will be more to them than serving as checkboxes in the campaign log. Could it be that the designers were discouraged by the reception of supplies in the last campaign and made sure that in this one the mementos are as simple as possible? All in all, a solid expansion with some excellent player cards added to the pool.

Campaign Log:

Disappearance at the Twilight Estate: Valentino disappeared into the mist. 4 pieces of evidence were left behind.

The Witching Hour: Jenny has rejected her fate. The witches’ spell was broken. Mementos: Mesmerizing Flute & Ritual Components. 8 XP (Anette Mason, Cairn Stones, Child's Tree House, Tainted Well, Hermit's House, Delve Too Deep, 1 bonus XP).

At Death's Doorstep: Jenny is on Valentino’s trail. Jenny escaped the spectral realm. Jenny rescued Joseph. Jenny is a member of the Lodge. 5 XP (Office, Delve Too Deep, 2 bonus XP).

The Secret Name: Jenny told the Lodge about the coven. Mementos: Gilman’s Journal, Keziah ’s Formulae & Worn Crucifix. 4 XP (City of Elder Things, Twilight Abyss, 2 bonus XP), 1 Mental Trauma.